End of Oldham Opportunity Area project
We have been delighted to work with Oldham Council over the past four years to support the mental health and social and emotional well-being of children in primary schools. Since 2018 we have trained over 70 primary and special schools and over 400 teaching staff. Oldham’s long term approach to SEL has meant that we have been able to work on with Oldham Council and their primary schools on a whole school approach to mental health, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to take part in our Skills for Life programmes and benefit from better mental health. As the project comes to an end we’d like to share some thoughts and reflections from those involved:
Chrissy Orson, Mental Health in Education Advisor, Oldham Council:
“We’ve been privileged to work with Partnership for Children over the last four years, rolling out the Skills for Life programmes across our Oldham schools. In fact we were the first borough to receive training in Passport and this is going down a storm with our year six pupils in particular, preparing them for transition to secondary.
Schools have talked to us about children coming in excited for their Zippy lessons, and going home discussing content from Apple’s friends and Passport with their parents. Working with the team at PfC to develop the early years resources means that we’re able to offer a true through school curriculum for our primary settings, building on the skills children learn to support their mental health from as young as four! The partnership working has been fantastic, particularly the flip to online training and resources in response to the pandemic. Thank you all!
Oldham is a very diverse borough so it’s fantastic for our settings to be using a programme which is inclusive and accessible to all children. Every child should have access to the Skills for Life programme! The skills it teaches are relevant and necessary for all of our young people.”
We look forward to continuing to support Oldham schools over the coming years as they embed and expand the programmes.
